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Showing posts from March, 2013

Further search for Beatrice Wilcken in Dunedin

In Dunedin as part of a NZ holiday but research always beckons. Limited internet but I manage in snippets when free wi-fi available! Interested to know if I can track down any more information on Wilcken (another German writer of early Australian fairytales) who taught music for sometime in Dunedin and gave a concert at the Choral Hall. A conversation with another PhD student Jai Paterson about her intriguing thesis topic which examines Trans-Tasman migrant  flows between Australia and New Zealand (from respectable families) sent me off on this quest. Unfortunately Beatrice did not emerge in any diaries or papers. The Dunedin Historical Society did not have her name in their archives.   But when visiting Olverston House , amazingly fully furnished as when lived in with its original owners, my ears pricked up when I discovered its library (including children's books) remained intact. Unfortunately her book was not found in the inventory so I couldn't argue for it being taken to

Forgotten how hard writing was ...

If the Australian identity in the early Australian literature of the 1840s can be attributed to the new settlers’ ‘quest for belonging and identity’ and the often violent, clash of Indigenous and immigrant cultures as well as a longing for home ... After two weeks in New Zealand I had forgotten how hard writing was and only managed four paragraphs yesterday. I read the Thesis Whisperer's blog for inspiration - I like her sense of humour! I especially like the blog about taking a thesis writing retreat in New York although I'm always happy to settle for Jan's cabin in Tassie.  Babysitting today but with XP having a morning nap sleeping in the cot next to me I seem to have found a new speed. Something nice about having a companion when you are working alone. Of course, not to be left out WM is going with me to the Bailleu on Tuesday to borrow some books and, while I have a coffee, to soak up the academic air. Kel and B spent weekends at Monash University Library in the 9

Gender and publication

I da Rentoul Outhwaite, Minnie Rowe, Ethel Jackson Morris, May Gibbs, Pixie O'Harris and Peg Maltby are our most well known of fairytalers but less is known of those early fairy talers of whom Ernst was one. Approximately twelve books appeared sporadically over thirty years between the appearance of the first fairy tale in 1870, three published in Melbourne, one in the Victorian Gold Rush town of Ballaarat, one in Hobart and four in Sydney and two in London by Australian authors. Twelve books is a very small sample and it should be mentioned that there were also short stories: fairy tales in annuals and other children's collections.  There are a number of differences between those tales written by men and those written by women and one I explore is the difference between the articulated motive of men and women writers. The male writers do not seem to have the same concerns about the worth of their book while female writers seek approval and acknowledgement and seem ex